


my heart is lost, the beasts have eaten it

by almadeamla



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Randall gets eaten by rats, overuse of bizarre symbolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-18 01:57:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21520030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/almadeamla/pseuds/almadeamla
Summary: A star falls.It settles on Shane’s nose, a cold pinprick.More follow suit, and it’s like snowfall, the whole of the galaxy swirling white around them. Shane can’t see, can’t breathe. It chokes him.Rick walks on.Oblivious.
Relationships: Rick Grimes/Shane Walsh
Comments: 10
Kudos: 21





	my heart is lost, the beasts have eaten it

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Book_Wyrm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Book_Wyrm/gifts).



> I have no explanation for this. It’s bad and I apologize for it’s existence. But Book_Wyrm texted me “I wish Randall would be eaten by rats” and I ran with it. Title from Baudelaire.

When they clear the woods the clouds part. The whole sky brightens, and the sweet corn moon hangs low. An omen. They’d kissed on a night like this long ago, with the moon close enough to watch them.

“Can’t be much farther,” Rick pants. Shane can’t look at him. He wants to climb up into the navy tapestry of constellations. The sky is nothing but one long wave, an endless ocean, he wants to dip his feet and swim. If it were that night they’ve both mostly forgotten, he’d ask Rick to join him.

A star falls. 

It settles on Shane’s nose, a cold pinprick. 

More follow suit, and it’s like snowfall, the whole of the galaxy swirling white around them. Shane can’t see, can’t breathe. It chokes him.

Rick walks on.

Oblivious.

***

Shane doesn’t feel bad. He barely thinks about it, all that might come out of what’s to happen. He just enjoys the fading warmth of Autumn sunshine on the long walk to the shed.

Randall’s still there. But his eyes are gone. His mouth is wide, hanging open. His lips and tongue are missing, ripped off while he was screaming. The damp, rotten wood smells of blood and the urine Randall’s body keeps leaking.

His shin and wrists around his shackles are stripped down to bone. He could slip free now if he wanted. If he could move on his own.

Randall twitches. Reanimating. Shane waits—ready. He doesn’t know how the walker that got Randall made it out without being noticed, but he’ll kill this one. He will do what needs doing. 

Randall’s chest heaves and lurches. There’s a noise like crunching. The bloodied head of a rat pokes its way out of the bellyhole spilling slick pink coils of Randall’s intestines. It watches him, quiet and thoughtful. Two more join, and they chitter together for a moment, before they scurry back in, deeper.

_ Huh _ Shane thinks and shuts the door behind him. 

***

Carl is sprinting through the beginnings of the cornfield. His cheeks are red. He’s warm as springtime. He smiles so wide it splits his head.

“Shane! Shane, the baby’s coming!”

They walk together. Carl dances with barely contained excitement. Shane thinks about the apple orchard Hershel’s put them all to work growing. The buds are new and tender, almost microscopic. All it will take is one late frost to kill them.

Life’s like that, though.

Rick is on the porch waiting. In his arms, something is bundled tightly. A very small hand reaches out from the nest of blankets. Grasping. Five perfect, tiny fingers claw at the fabric bunched around Rick’s shoulder.

“It’s a girl,” Rick says, beaming. He’s the happiest Shane’s ever seen him. It makes Shane so miserably angry he wishes he was dead.

Rick brings down a corner of the quilt Shane’s daughter is wrapped in. Her little gray face snarls up at him. She gnashes up at him with her toothless mouth. Her milky eyes are glossed right over.

“Aren’t you beautiful,” Rick coos, nuzzling her closer.

***

“Brother, it doesn’t have to be this way,” Rick pants through the drifting stardust thick around them. The moon stays put—keeping witness.

Shane looks at Rick in earnest and sees Randall’s empty eye sockets staring at him.

“Oh Rick.” Shane sighs. “This was a long time coming.”


End file.
